Campaign Finance

Arizona: “Proposition 211: Ballot measure to require disclosure for political spending wins in Arizona” by Mary Jo Pitzl (Arizona Republic) for MSN

Elections

Georgia: “Gingrich Ordered to Appear Before Ga. Grand Jury Probing 2020 Election” by Tom Jackman (Washington Post) for MSN

Ethics

Michigan: “Proposal 1: Michigan voters pass term limits, financial disclosure reform measure” by Carol Thompson for Detroit News

Pennsylvania: “Mistrial Declared in Trial of Nonprofit Executives Accused with Kenyatta Johnson” by Jeremy Roebuck (Philadelphia Inquirer) for MSN

Tennessee: “Nashville Council Member Faces Ethics Inquiry After Constituent’s Car Towed” by Cassandra Stephenson (The Tennessean) for MSN

Legislative Issues

Kentucky: “Kentucky Rejects Amendment 1, in Blow to Legislature’s GOP Supermajority” by Joe Sonka (Louisville Courier-Journal) for MSN

North Dakota: “North Dakota Voters OK Term Limits for Governor, Legislators” by James MacPherson for Associated Press News

Oregon: “Oregon Voters Pass Measure 113, Punishing Lawmakers for Walkouts” by Hillary Borrud and Gosia Wozniacka for Portland Oregonian

Today, a new pay-to-play law takes effect in the District of Columbia. Originally, the law was to go into effect on November 4, 2020, but was delayed due to the District choosing not to fund the implementation of the law until its 2022 budget.

Now, any business entity, or a principal of a business entity, seeking or holding a contract or multiple contracts with the district government is prohibited from making political contributions with an aggregate value of $250,000 or more to certain government officials. A principal of a business entity includes senior officers of that business entity, such as president, executive director, chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. Government officials prohibited from receiving contributions from contractors can include, depending on the type of contract sought, the mayor and mayoral candidates, the attorney general and candidates for the position of attorney general, and councilmembers and councilmember candidates.

When seeking an exemption or abatement of a tax, contractors may have to disclose the estimated aggregate value of the exemption or abatement, if it is $250,000 or more, with a list of the contributions made.

A contractor violating pay-to-play restrictions may be considered to have breached the terms of any existing contract with the district. At the discretion of the contracting authority, any existing contract of the contractor may be terminated. The contractor may also be disqualified from eligibility for future District contracts, including the extension or modification of any existing contract, for a period of four calendar years after the date of determination that a violation has occurred.

Missouri voters were overwhelmingly against holding a constitutional convention.

The question automatically appears on the ballot every 20 years, and with 96% of the precincts reporting, 67% voted against holding a convention to revise and amend the constitution, while only 32% voted in favor of holding a convention.

Michigan voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 1, a constitutional amendment requiring disclosures and modifying term limits with 66% voting yes and 34% voting no with 87% of the votes counted.

The proposal amends section 10 of article IV of the Michigan Constitution to require each member of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, and the attorney general to electronically file an annual financial disclosure report by April 15, 2024, and annually thereafter, including gifts, travel payments and reimbursements, and payments to a charity in lieu of honoraria made by lobbyist or lobbyist agent.

The amendment also modifies term limits in section 54 of article IV of the Michigan Constitution to prohibit anyone from being elected as a state representative or senator for terms or partial terms that combined total more than 12 years.

This limitation does not prohibit a person elected to the office of state senator in 2022 from being elected to that office for the three times permitted at the time the person became a candidate for that office.

Kentucky Voters defeated constitutional amendment 1, which would have permitted the Senate President and House Speaker to jointly call special sessions of the legislature lasting up to 12 days annually.

Only the Governor can call a special session.

The amendment would have also removed specific legislative session end dates from the constitution and instead limit sessions to 30 legislative days in odd-numbered years and 60 legislative days in even-numbered years.

Wes Moore was elected Maryland governor on Tuesday and will become the first black governor of the state of Maryland.

Moore beat out Republican Dan Cox in a 60% to 37% landslide. Democrats swept all the statewide races.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won reelection over Republican challenger, Tudor Dixon.

As of Wednesday morning, with 87% of votes counted, Whitmer won by 9%.

Third-party candidates, including Libertarian Party candidate Mary Buzuma, Green Party candidate Kevin Hogan, Taxpayer Party candidate Donna Brandenburg and Natural Law candidate Daryl Simpson pulled in just 1.6% of the vote combined.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey defeated Republican Geoff Diehl to become the state’s first female governor.

Healey will also be one of the country’s first openly lesbian governors.

Incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Lee Zeldin.

In a tighter than expected race, Hochul secures her first full term as governor.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has won his bid for reelection.

Kemp defeated his Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.

Kemp won by a wide margin, winning 53.4% of the vote while Abrams won 45.8%.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won his bid for reelection against his Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.

DeSantis won by a wide margin with almost 60% of the vote.

DeSantis appears to have done well in Miami-Dade County, which has historically voted Democratic.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers narrowly won the gubernatorial race over Republican Tim Michaels.

With 95% of votes counted, Evers prevailed over Michaels by just over 3 percentage points.

Independent candidate Joan Ellis Beglinger pulled in just one percent of the vote.

Eleanor Holmes Norton won reelection as the delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.

As a delegate, Norton’s seat in the House permits her the right of debate and all other privileges of U.S. representatives except for the ability to vote with the body.

Norton, a Democrat, will now serve a sixteenth consecutive term in office.

Oye Ooltewah won reelection as the District of Columbia’s Shadow Representative.

Unlike the District’s non-voting Delegate to the House, the Shadow Representative is not able to vote in both floor votes and committee votes and is not recognized as an actual member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Along with Owolewa’s goal to achieve statehood for the District, the underlying goal of all shadow representatives, he has expressed an objective of ending federal taxes for the District until it achieves full political representation.

Ooltewah was first elected to the seat in 2020.